Diablo Delivered! More Fun from 'Frisco to Santa Rosa

In one of the greatest climbs ever in American cycling, the epic 3,865-foot uphill climb to the summit finish on Mt. Diablo in Stage Seven of the Amgen Tour of California served as a battleground for attacks and breakaways, with Team NetApp-Endura’s Leopold König (CZE) overtaking Team Jamis-Hagens Berman’s Janier Alexis Acevedo (COL) in the final meters to win the stage.

“The entire race I felt good. I had good legs,” said König. “To be truthful, I like alpine-top finishes, and thought I could win the stage. This is the biggest win so far (career) for me.  But, hopefully more in the future.”

After posting two of the fastest climbs in Stage Seven, König and Acevedo attacked the three-man leader group in the final two miles at one of the steepest points of the route. Pulling ahead to a 20-second advantage over the peloton, it was either rider’s stage to win until the final 200 meters when König went clear to seal the victory.

BMC Racing Team worked hard to control the peloton up the mountain to put team leader Tejay van Garderen (Boulder, Colo.) in position to finish the stage in third place and secure the Amgen Race Leader Jersey he first wore following Stage Five.  Van Gerdern will be in yellow when the riders begin the final stage in San Francisco. Crossing the finish line just after van Garderen was 2010 ATOC champion Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team Saxo-Tinkoff, who trails the overall leader by 1 minute, 47 seconds.  Van Garderen and BMC Racing Team will be looking to defend the yellow jersey and take the overall victory home to Santa Rosa, Calif., where the team is headquartered.

“It was an unbelievable team effort. I knew they were strong. I knew they were motivated. But they went above and beyond. They made my life somewhat easy out there, but it was still a hard day.” said van Garderen, taking note of the meandering 10-mile climb up Mt. Diablo, which is situated east of Oakland. “The climb was beautiful. I heard they wouldn’t let bikes up the last two kilometers, so to see so many people hike the final way up was amazing.”

Stage Seven saw no changes to the other leader jerseys: Cannondale Pro Cycling’s Peter Sagan (SVK) will continue in the Visit California Sprint Jersey, though only one point separates him from Team Garmin-Sharp’s Tyler Farrar (Seattle, Wash.), who will be vying for a jersey change tomorrow. With no mountains in tomorrow’s stage, BISSELL Pro Cycling’s Carter Jones (Boulder, Colo.) has clinched the Nissan King of the Mountain Jersey, which he’s worn since the first day of racing; and Bontrager Cycling Team’s 21-year-old Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas) will continue for the final day in the Crunchies Best Young Rider Jersey, which he claimed following Stage Two.

Stage Eight embarks from Marina Green and will cross the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. An interesting twist to the crossing is that the bridge will remain open to traffic.  The ride over the bay will providing stunning visuals.  The bridge's sidewalks will be open to spectators.  

Known as one of the top cycling destinations in the world, Santa Rosa is home to three-time ATOC winner Levi Leipheimer, home of the US headquarters of the 2011 Tour de France winning Team BMC, and host to training camps for many elite pro-cycling teams, as well as amateur clubs and bike-passionate individuals.  But it isn’t just fanatical bike riders and fans you will see in Santa Rosa.  The city is known for towering redwoods and colorful vineyards, the Pacific coast and a nearly constant ocean breeze.  Santa Rosa, like all of Sonoma County is noted for its farmers and artisans providing wide selections of organic foods and specialty products nurtured out of the region’s fertile soil.

While Santa Rosa has been home to professional bike races for decades, including the famed Coors Classic in the ‘80s, it wasn’t until 2006, when Santa Rosa hosted the first ever Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California, that the cycling culture began to so effectively merge with the community culture.  The Tour returned to Santa Rosa for stage finishes and starts every year from 2006-2010.

It has been the Sticky Bottle Team’s pleasure to cover the Amgen Tour of California.  We hope our readers have enjoyed our posts.  Please visit our website www.stickybottleteam.net.  We will have a final wrap-up post tomorrow.